Ken Miller's media conference after Saturday's loss to Toronto

Were their heads in it today? Were they as focused as you would like, considering the mental errors and things of that nature that were very costly? “You could say that our offence, maybe their heads weren’t into it because we weren’t very effective on offence. Defensively, we played well enough to win. I don’t know if you can just divide and say offence wasn’t into it and defence was. That’s something that I’ll just have to evaluate as we go forward. Certainly, we didn’t play well on offence. Our defence gave us an opportunity to win the game and we didn’t take advantage of opportunities that we had. Our special teams were mixed, really. We had a lot of good things on special teams. Our coverage teams, I thought, were excellent. The second fake punt, we were geared up for that play. We had practised against that play and anticipated that play, and still they executed it for 30 yards. We just didn’t play well enough on offence, really, to win that game.’’

What happened in the fourth quarter? You didn’t run the ball in the fourth quarter. “We really didn’t run the ball well enough throughout the game. That’s probably the biggest thing. I think we felt like we needed to make bigger plays and move the ball dramatically. The confidence that we have in Darian is well-placed, and he has demonstrated over the course of his tenure as the starting quarterback here that he’s able to make critical throws and bring us back from the brink of defeat, so I just think it was a mindset that build into that.’’Say what you will about the fake safety, but have you ever seen that before that deep in a team’s own end, because that’s one that surprised everybody? “Certainly, that was a big surprise. That is not one that we would have anticipated. Had we not gotten the horse-collar on the tackle, I’m not sure whether he would have made the first down or not. The horse-collar tackle gave them an additional 15 yards, which changed the field position. We got a fumble right after that and then got a blocked field goal. So, no, I have not seen that play before.’’What is our assessment overall of special teams? To this point in the season, it seems to be the focal point for many people this year. When things go wrong, it always seems to come down to special teams. Do you still have faith in your special teams? “Absolutely. Look at our coverage teams today. They were really phenomenal today. And I thought Weston (Dressler) did a really good job of returning the ball in the punt game. We didn’t have a touchdown run, but certainly we made first-down yardage on our punt return, and he did a really nice job of that. We only had two kickoff returns. One was reasonable. We had a holding penalty which took it back, and on the other one — the opening one in the second half — we got it out to the 24-yard line.’’Jim (Daley) is probably going to be a feeling a little bit of heat this week. Do you stand by him and your whole special-teams unit? “Certainly . . . certainly, because I don’t think you can point to our special teams and say they’re the reason we lost this football game. They, like our defence, played well enough for us to win.’’

In the second half, you weren’t able to get a pass over 20 yards. Were they doing anything special to keep you from passing very well? “The thing is, we didn’t do a very good job with our protection, whether it was scheme or individual or a combination thereof. So Darian really didn’t have a lot of time in order to get a pass off to receivers who would have been on a deeper route.’’

On the second-and-two play right before Congi’s field goal late in the fourth quarter, Darian ended up scrambling out of the pocket and throwing it away. Do you have any regrets about not running the ball or not having more shorter options for Darian to throw to? It looked like there was nobody in his line of sight in that situation when you only need two yards. “I don’t remember exactly what the pattern was that was called on that particular play. That’s one I’ll have to investigate. Certainly, we need to be able to run the football on second-and-two. There’s just no question about that.’’

Did Toronto almost play possum? “They played, really, the way they play. Offensively, they played conservatively. They give the ball to Boyd. Defensively, they have mixed in what they have done today as they have gone through the season. We should not have been surprised by anything that they did.’’

Chris Szarka wasn’t in for the second half. How is his knee, or are there any injuries that you are concerned about? “I think that Chris would be the significant injury. I just spoke with him as I was coming into the room. He said, and Ivan and the doctors have said, that it’s a bruise. He hopes that’s what it is. When he caught the ball and was tackled, he jammed his knee into the turf. It’s likely a bruise but, until we get some time and space and have an opportunity to get further analysis, we won’t know for sure.’’

How big of a loss is that, because I know that he’s the lead blocker on short-yardage situations? Did that change anything for you in the second half? “Neal Hughes went into the ball game, and he caught a touchdown in that position and did a really nice job. Neal has proven through the years — at least the years that I’ve been here — that he can pull the freight when asked to do it.’’When you lost in Winnipeg, it was Calgary here the next week and you were able to turn it around very quickly. Do you need to go back to the formula that you employed after the Winnipeg game, especially with the heat that Toronto applied to Darian? Is there a parallel there, do you think? “There is a parallel. There are some things that are similar between what Toronto did today and what Calgary did against us the last time we played, and with the way Calgary has been playing defence. We need to get back to that style of play a little bit more. Like you say, as devastating as this loss is, we can’t dwell on it for a long time. We have to get the page turned and refocus and get ready for that game.’’

Were you surprised that the pressure they were able to put on Darian today? “They blitzed us, one-plussed us, so in those situations I wasn’t surprised that they were able to get there. We have a system of being able to get receivers open. We just weren’t very effective with that today. The thing that distresses me some is that when they didn’t one-plus us and got pressure on us. That is something that I have to look at very closely. Before I point fingers, I need to make sure that I do a good job of film review.’’Do you think Darian’s injury hurt him a little bit? If he had been fully healthy, would he have been able to escape some of that pressure? “If he wasn’t 100 per cent, he was 99 per cent from a physical point of view. Whether he was 100 or 99 per cent mentally, I’m not sure. That may have been just a little bit less. We, and I, still have a lot of confidence in Darian and I think he’ll bounce back very well.’’Do you think you relinquished some of your control of your destiny with this loss? “Certainly, we do. If Montreal beats Calgary, then it rebalances. Again, to use your words, to be in control of our destiny this was an important game today.’’

On the fake safety, what’s the checkdown that goes down on special teams to try to prevent that reverse in that direction.

Is there anything that’s drawn up, or do you have a spy to prevent a play like that? “Certainly, we have a spy. We have a spy on Jamie Boreham, or on the punter — regardless of who the punter might be that we’re playing against. It was a well-designed play that caught us off-guard, and probably would catch most people off-guard.’’

So you just need someone to make a play to stop it? “If you noticed, we had a defender there who could have tackled him, which would have kept him from getting the first down, if he got the first down. It just so happened there was a horse-collar tackle involved with that, which gave them the first down regardless. So we did have somebody there. That person just didn’t get the job done.’’

You scratched Chris McKenzie and Ryan Grice-Mullen. Are those injuries serious? “I think Grice-Mullen will be good to go next week. He practised the day before yesterday, but wasn’t 100 per cent, so we gave him more treatment yesterday. He still wasn’t 100 per cent today, so we took him off. With McKenzie, we’ll just have to see how he develops, and his recovery.’’

This is obviously secondary, but it was a milestone day for a couple of guys out there (Andy Fantuz and Wes Cates). Is there any small piece of consolation in that? “No. Certainly, we like individual awards when they are compatible with team achievement. If you don’t have team achievement, individual awards are pretty flat.’’

In Toronto, it seemed that Darian was able to spread the ball around very well and use the array of weapons. Today, there were no catches for Getzlaf and no catches for Clermont. Did the lack of diversity contribute to the (offensive struggles today)? “I think that you maybe have an answer there, but until do a deeper analysis, I don’t know exactly on that. I think Clermont had seven catches last week and was limited to none. Getzlaf, I don’t know how many he had last week (four), but at the position he plays, certainly we would anticipate that he would have multiple catches — maybe not more than 10, but certainly we’d anticipate that he’d have four, five, six or seven.’’

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